


Far From Home

by AmberRose0521



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-12
Packaged: 2018-02-16 21:55:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2285805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmberRose0521/pseuds/AmberRose0521
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set before the events in The Hobbit, herein lie the events leading up to Fili and Kili joining the company and possibly beyond.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He ground his teeth together, swinging the rock-hewn hammer down onto the still molten blade with uncharacteristic savageness, furiously trying to ignore both the throbbing, burning pain in his left shoulder and the mocking jeers of the older dwarves that worked the forge around him. Plunging the rapidly cooling blade into a barrel of water beside the anvil, he flung aside the hammer in frustration, spinning on his heel and rapidly retreating from the forge to the catcalls and taunts of his fellow smiths.  
Bowled along by his anger, he found himself pacing the long familiar halls of his place of birth. Eriador, the Blue Mountain stronghold of the dwarves, had been the sanctuary of his people for nearly a hundred years since the dragon Smaug had desecrated their homeland.

  
In the hundred or so years that had passed, little had changed for the erstwhile refugees of the lonely mountain, whose children born under the Blue Mountains were similarly rejected. Fili and his younger brother Kili were two of such dwarves; both born to dwarves made homeless by the sacking of Erebor in the stronghold of Eriador. Fili in particular, whose golden brown hair singled him out for ridicule amongst his darker haired fellows, was subjected continuously to the bitterness and mockery of the dwarves of Eriador – a fact that would have bothered him little had the taunting not affected his kin and younger brother.  
His mother, in the ground barely a decade, Aüle rest her, had despaired, having implored their Uncle to leave their refuge, leave the dwarves with hearts made of bone and lead their people to a better life elsewhere. But their Uncle's heart lay far to the east, his mind filled with memories of the splendour of home, his dreams filled with the glory of retaking the lonely mountain, his thoughts occupied only with the dragon and its cavern.

  
He paused, his feet having carried him unconsciously to his destination, to tap gently on the oaken door, not waiting for a reply as he shunted the heavy door aside with his good shoulder.  
"You should be resting."

Kili looked up briefly from his lap, casually fletching arrows with his legs crossed, back propped against the rocky wall.  
"I believe the same assessment was made for you, brother, though I am the one sitting calmly and you're the one working at the forge."  
"My wounds were not so serious." Fili groused, suitably chastised.

  
Kili smirked, discarding a handful of owl feathers. "And yet I was not the one who nearly died from infection only two weeks ago. I'm surprised you can even move your arm."  
Swiping his brother lightly, Fili threw himself down beside him, trying to suppress a wince as the movement jarred his bad shoulder. He brushed away the concerned glance thrown in his direction, chagrined by his inability to refute his brother's statement.  
He rested his head against the cool stone, grumbling internally at the speed his shoulder was healing. Being useless was not a feeling he was accustomed to. Gingerly, he probed the still healing wound with idle fingers, feeling it twinge and throb with the pressure. He wondered how long it would take to have full function of his shoulder again. Maybe it would never be the same. He shuddered with disgust. Cold hands smacked his fingers away from the injury and he looked up to his brother's disapproving expression as he loomed over him.  
"Leave it. It'll take longer to heal if you mess with it."

  
"Thank you doctor. And there was I thinking I was the older one of us. Clearly I was mistaken." He closed his eyes, tugging his arms around himself to retain heat as the bitingly cold rock leeched the warmth from his body.  
There was a heavy sigh from Kili and he felt his brother haul himself to his feet, heard him patter quietly across the room. Then a thick warmth draped over him and he cracked his eyes open wearily to see Kili covering him with a heavy woollen blanket, most likely that which up until now had covered his bed. He tried to protest, but the sudden warmth had rendered him mute, not to mention incredibly comfortable. He rested his head on his knees drowsily as Kili fussed with the edges of the blanket.  
"I haven't been tucked in for more than a decade." He slurred tiredly. "And never by you."

  
The younger dwarf rolled his eyes, settling down stiffly next to his exhausted brother.  
"Just go to sleep, Fili." He resumed fletching, tugging a small measure of the blanket over his outstretched legs to ward off the cold.  
As the pile of arrows grew ever larger, a heavy weight began to rest against his shoulder as Fili gradually descended into sleep.  
An hour later, there was a short, sharp knock on the door.

………………………………  
 _Thanks for reading. I'm happy to take fic requests from anyone interested. Please let me know what you think!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Curiously, Kili pulled the door open, as quietly as possible so as not to wake the sleeping form propped against the wall.

To his surprise and confusion, it was his Uncle, looking as composed as ever – but there was a fire in his eyes – a feverish brightness that usually only returned to his eyes when he spoke of memories or told Kili tales of their ancestors and the homeland that was torn from them.

"Uncle?"

"Is your brother here?" Thorin seemed rushed and almost flustered, despite the calm exterior; something Kili had never seen before in his normally reserved Uncle.

"Sleeping." He answered, trying to hide the worry in his voice. "His shoulder still bothers him."

Evidently he had not managed it, as his Uncle clapped him on the shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry about your brother. The pair of you have Durin's blood in your veins. You'll be alright."

Unconvinced, Kili brushed the matter aside for now.

"What's happening, Uncle?"

Thorin sighed, "I have word from Gandalf-"

"The wizard?!" Kili interrupted enthusiastically, his excitement getting the better of him.

"Aye, the wizard. He believes there may be a way to reclaim Erebor for our own. Think of it, Kili – no more of this Blue Mountain 'hospitality'. A home of our own, after a hundred years in exile! The splendour of the lonely mountain restored to its former glory!"

"But what of the dragon, Uncle?"

His Uncle's face darkened, "The dragon has not been seen or heard of in those parts in five decades. It may well be that it has simply lived out its extended and vindictive lifespan."

Kili didn't dare contradict him, having experienced Thorin's wrath upon many occasions in his younger years.

"So what will you do?" He asked instead, hoping the danger had passed.

"I must meet with Gandalf in the village of Bree, just past the land of the Halflings. From there, if we deem there is enough evidence, I must meet with Dain and we will send a team to investigate the mountain. I need to send word to the Iron Hills and to those remaining of our kin to make for the meeting, where we can decide who is most apt to continue this task."

"What of Fili and myself? Should we prepare to travel?" Excitement coursed through him at the thought of leaving the rocky tombs of the Blue Mountains behind them.

But Thorin's laugh was loud and hearty as he stared at his nephew. "By the glory of Aule! The two of you are barely out of childhood! The dwarves I seek will be seasoned warriors – Troll hunters, Orc slayers, not adolescents! Not to mention that neither of you have recovered from your last little escapade yet."

Kili fumed silently before his Uncle, desperately unwilling to remain cooped up in the stone prison while Thorin disappeared to chase dragons – dragons! Killing Orcs and Wargs and Trolls!

Trying to swallow back the bitter disappointment without snapping at his Uncle, he nodded quickly, retreating back into the room. He barely managed to avoid slamming the heavy door, slumping down moodily beside his still sleeping older brother.

Drumming his fingers restlessly on the wall, he was torn between shaking Fili awake to tell him the news, and letting his brother sleep. As the choice warred within him, impulsivity reigned and he tapped Fili awake with irritation.

"Is he out of his mind?" It had definitely been a bad idea to wake up Fili, he decided five minutes later.

"I think so." He muttered gloomily in reply.

"Just because a dragon hasn't been seen for half a century, doesn't mean that it's ceased and desisted! They live for millennia! And what will he have them do if they find the dragon is alive and kicking? What chance do a group of warrior dwarves have against a real life, fire breathing dragon?" Fili was almost breathing steam, more upset than Kili had seen him in ages.

He paused. "What about us?" his brother asked tentatively.

"We have to stay here to be babysat by our wonderful hosts, like dwarflings."

Fili groaned loudly, "I'm not spending another month being glared at by those judgemental Blue sons of-"

"Fili!"

"You know what they're like, Kili! They reject anything that hasn't been tradition for half a millennia or more! They despise us, insult us, force our people to live in slums and survive off rats if we cannot make ends meet. Our people can't stay here any longer, and neither can we!"

"Well why don't we go to the meeting?" He crossed his fingers tightly behind his back.

"What?" Fili just looked bemused.

Well it wasn't an outright no. It was worth a chance.

"We've obviously outstayed our welcome here. Neither of us wants to be here any longer – and Uncle has trained us to fight to the best of his ability – doesn't that stand for something? Maybe we're not seasoned warriors yet, but are we ever going to get the chance to do so if we just stay here and rot?"

"How long have you been rehearsing that speech in your head?" Amusement was written across his brother's face.

"I haven't!" he tried to look innocent, but unfortunately his older brother had always been able to see right through him.

"Right and I'm an elf."

"Well alright, but you don't like being cooped up here anymore than I have. Why can't we go outside? It's not as though we're dwarflings anymore, for Aüle's sake!"

Fili sighed. "Look I can't deny anything you've said. And you are right about this whole situation, but do we really need to volunteer for some suicide mission just in order to get some fresh air?"

Fidgeting anxiously, Kili tried to resist the urge to pace, the overwhelming urge to escape the stone jaws of the Blue Mountains crawling in his blood.

"But, we don't have to even go to the meeting! We could just go out riding – or, or walking!" he amended hastily, remembering what had happened last time they'd left on horseback.

"Anything to get out of this claustrophobic hole!" he finished desperately, his eyes pleading.

Fili sighed heavily. "Fine."

Kili barely managed to suppress the urge to leap with joy, settling for a small yell of delight that was no more mature for a dwarf just out of adolescence than the former option.

"You are incorrigible."


End file.
